Embiid: “Yeah, we text sometimes. We talk to each other sometimes. I mean, that’s the guy that drafted me, and he made sure he put everything in place so I could get healthy. And I got healthy and I got back on the court. And I feel like he basically kind of lost his job because of me, because I missed two years. So I feel like I owe him a lot. Yeah, we talk. We talk sometimes.”

While his on-court game remains to be seen, Joel Embiid is already a social media master.

Yesterday, Embiid posted another gem on Instagram as he put up a picture of himself with former Sixers GM Sam Hinkie along with the caption, “THE GOAT #HeDiedForOurSins #TrustTheProcess.”

The Hinkie flick wasn’t the only social media post related to Embiid that has people talking. His trainer, Drew Hanlan, also took to IG and posted a video of the big man working out and looking healthy:

The Philadelphia Sixers moved quickly to replace the outgoing Sam Hinkie, announcing Sunday that Bryan Colangelo is the franchise’s new President of Basketball of Operations. Philly ownership makes the hilarious

Colangelo most recently served as President and General Manager of the Toronto Raptors from 2006 to 2013. In his first full season at the helm of the Raptors (2006-07), the team saw a 20-win improvement from the previous year and tied a then franchise-high with 47 wins. Colangelo was named 2007 NBA Executive of the Year.

One of only three executives to win the award with two different franchises, Colangelo was also named NBA Executive of the Year in 2005 with the Phoenix Suns. After Colangelo’s offseason acquisition of point guard Steve Nash, who would go on to win back-to-back NBA Most Valuable Player awards in 2005 and 2006, the Suns notched a 62-20 regular season record and an appearance in the Western Conference Finals.

As part of the transition, Jerry Colangelo will relinquish the role of Chairman of Basketball Operations and remains as a special advisor to (76ers Managing General Partner Josh Harris.)

Sam Hinkie quit on The Process. The Philadelphia 76ers threw a pizza party. […] No, the two events were not related, though it was a bit peculiar to find the team’s practice facility festooned with balloons as select season-ticket holders gorged on food a day after perhaps the most bizarre departure in 76ers history.

“He obviously felt like this was not something he wanted to be a part of,” Brown said Thursday. “He didn’t want to be a part of the collaborative effort.” […] Brown decided to stick out this elongated rebuild and was rewarded — rewarded? — earlier this season with a contract extension. Hinkie was hired by owner Josh Harris in 2013 to find a creative way to turn the Sixers into winners. Hinkie’s plan — gut the roster of any solid NBA talent, shred payroll and stockpile draft picks to build for the future — had the initial backing of ownership.

Hinkie doesn’t exactly leave behind a barren cupboard — Nerlens Noel, Joel Embiid, Jahlil Okafor and overseas prospect Dario Saric still have potential on the court or as trade bait, the Sixers have about $60 million in salary cap space, and they could have up to four first-round picks in the 2016 draft. Even without Hinkie in place, Brown’s job is safe. […] “I know he’s taking his hits all over the place,” Brown said. “But he hired me. I was his partner.”

Hinkie compiled a deliberately atrocious 47-195 record in Philly since the 2013-14 season:

Sources told ESPN.com that the Sixers are in advanced negotiations to add Bryan Colangelo — two-time former NBA Executive of the Year and son of Jerry — to the front office, which is among the factors that prompted Hinkie to step aside.

In a 13-page letter to members of the Sixers’ ownership group, obtained by ESPN.com, Hinkie wrote: “There has been much criticism of our approach. There will be more. A competitive league like the NBA necessitates a zig while our competitors comfortably zag. We often chose not to defend ourselves against much of the criticism, largely in an effort to stay true to the ideal of having the longest view in the room.

“… Given all the changes to our organization, I no longer have the confidence that I can make good decisions on behalf of investors in the Sixers — you. So I should step down. And I have.”

Sam Hinkie has orchestrated a breathtaking tank job in Philadelphia for a number of years, and says he shed twenty pounds when the Sixers lost 18 games in a row to start the season and went into Christmas with a 1-30 record.

Sam Hinkie revealed to Zach Lowe on The Lowe Post podcast that he lost 20 pounds this season due to the 76ers’ struggles.

“I lost twenty pounds in November to January,” he told Lowe.

Hinkie was asked about his comment in the podcast before the Sixers defeated the New Orleans Pelicans, 107-93, on Tuesday night. […] “It was just a hard season to start the year,” Hinkie said. “Wasn’t it for you?”

Are you personally, as the commissioner, OK with the way that the 76ers have run their franchise the past three seasons? […] Adam Silver: “I don’t want to answer that directly. As I said, there’s a marketplace of ideas and approaches that go into managing a franchise. Am I fan of that strategy? Put it this way: No. But does that mean that it’s not acceptable under the league rules? It doesn’t.”

Adam Silver: “There’s a resetting of sorts going on with the 76ers right now. And I think that ultimately may speak louder in the marketplace of teams than any tinkering we do to the draft lottery.”

Anonymous reports suggested that [you stepped in and pushed for the hiring of Jerry Colangelo] due to owners who wanted the situation in Philadelphia changed. Are those reports correct? […] Adam Silver: “Those reports are not correct. Josh Harris, who’s the principal owner of the 76ers, decided on his own that he needed to change course. He and I had many conversations along the way about the utility of the strategy that he was following. And he came to the conclusion once this season began, and he saw how his team was performing on the floor, that he needed to change his strategy. Other owners were not pressuring him at all. In fact, it’s a weird dynamic in the league that while all the owners would like to see teams well operated, other owners just want to win (laughter). And so nobody was calling me and saying go call the 76ers and tell them how to beat us.”

Brown’s early Sixers teams also struggled, before he turned explosive guard Allen Iverson loose and got the franchise to the 2001 NBA Finals. It’s been pretty much downhill for Philly since, with Brown a fierce critic of the way the organization has been handling things.

“I’m sick of what’s going on there,” Brown said, who’s hopeful that old friend Jerry Colangelo will guide them in the right direction. “You know I care about the Sixers. It’s an unbelievable basketball city and I had a great experience there. I don’t want to get on them when they’re struggling, but they don’t have any veteran leadership. I want to help. I could straighten it out in five minutes. I wish they’d get Allen involved. All those young kids worship him.”

Very soon though, it will finally be time for Larry Brown to turn all his attention to SMU, rather than lament what’s happened to his old team here. Time for him to look ahead, because looking back has been more difficult than usual this year.

Philadelphia Sixers ownership threw a monkey wrench into the so-called “process” Monday, with the hiring of Jerry Colangelo as Special Advisor to the Managing General Partner and Chairman of Basketball

Philadelphia Sixers ownership threw a monkey wrench into the so-called “process” Monday, with the hiring of Jerry Colangelo as Special Advisor to the Managing General Partner and Chairman of Basketball Operations.

Colangelo, a Hall of Famer and head honcho of the USA Basketball program, says he’s excited about the opportunity to help the Sixers return to respectability.

The NBA reportedly pushed for Colangelo’s appointment. Should GM Sam Hinkie—the man who helped engineer a horrifying 38-148 record since taking over in 2013—be nervous?

From the press release:

“Jerry Colangelo is one of the most respected people in basketball and we are excited to add his five decades of knowledge, relationships and experience to help drive our organization forward,” said Sixers co-Managing Owner Josh Harris.

“I am excited and energized about the opportunity to work with Josh Harris and this ownership group in their continued efforts to build something lasting and special here with the Sixers,” Colangelo said. “This is an organization with a storied history, strong and talented leadership and a number of promising pieces that have the potential for a very bright future.”

“It’s not every day you have the opportunity to work alongside a Hall of Famer with Jerry’s unique set of experiences,” said President of Basketball Operations and General Manager Sam Hinkie. “I feel incredibly fortunate to have him as part of our organization.”

“I have a sharp mind when it comes to that look,” Iverson said. What is that “look,” you ask?

“Being able to look into somebody’s eyes and tell if they’re going to be in the foxhole with you tonight or if they’re not.”

Iverson made it clear, he’s confident in his basketball knowledge. […] “To me, I’m a basketball genius and I really believe that” Iverson said. “So, any capacity that I could help this franchise, that’s what I’m going to do.”

]]>http://www.slamonline.com/nba/allen-iverson-calls-himself-a-basketball-genius/feed/0SLAMonlineReport: Sam Hinkie Was Only GM to See Emmanuel Mudiay Play in Person in Chinahttp://www.slamonline.com/nba/report-sam-hinkie-was-only-gm-to-see-emmanuel-mudiay-play-in-person-in-china/
http://www.slamonline.com/nba/report-sam-hinkie-was-only-gm-to-see-emmanuel-mudiay-play-in-person-in-china/#respondTue, 19 May 2015 19:15:23 +0000http://www.slamonline.com/?p=359528

The 2015 NBA Draft Lottery is being held tonight. So until we know what team is picking No. 1, it’s hard to speculate any further than just to name the

The 2015 NBA Draft Lottery is being held tonight. So until we know what team is picking No. 1, it’s hard to speculate any further than just to name the possible candidates. They include the likes of big men Karl-Anthony Towns and Jahlil Okafor, and guards like D’Angelo Russell and Emmanuel Mudiay.

Most expect the top pick to be one of the big men, since selecting a guard at No. 1 is pretty rare. But Mudiay and Russell are wild cards, depending on what team lands the top spot. Like, say for instance, the Sixers. Philadelphia GM Sam Hinkie was reportedly the only general manager in the League who made the trek to see Mudiay play live in person in China, where he spent last season. That could mean something or it could mean nothing, but it’s certainly a fact worth noting as we approach the Draft.

Tuesday night at approximately 8:30 p.m. ET on ESPN, the NBA draft lottery results could add a level of intrigue to the race for the No. 1 pick.

“If it’s a team like Philly, how could they draft [Karl-Anthony] Towns or [Jahlil] Okafor if they have the first pick, when they already have Nerlens Noel and Joel Embiid? And they traded Michael Carter-Williams [this season],” one Eastern Conference general manager said. “Maybe they move down and pick two or three, but [Emmanuel] Mudiay or [D’Angelo] Russell could go No. 1. Sam Hinkie is a wild card. He was the only GM to see Mudiay in person in China.”

“I think it’s open at the top,” another East general manager said. “I think there’s a lot of talent up there, and it’s fairly deep. It wouldn’t shock me if one of the guards went No. 1.”

“I think the ultimate thing that it comes down to is coach Brown coaches and Sam [Hinkie] does the moves,” said MCW. “I think that’s what it comes down to and I think that’s the agreement and that’s all I really know. I think that if it was up to coach Brown, I don’t think I would have been moved, to be honest. […] I was pretty up to speed and pretty involved (disbelieving laughs). As far as I heard I was involved in the long-term plan, especially with me, Joel (Embiid) and Nerlens (Noel). It was really us three that was the core group and were told that we we’re going to be (there) for a pretty long time and we really want to build around. I understand that things change and plans change. I guess that Sam and the rest of those guys thought that to move me was the best move. That’s on them and it is what it is.”

Carter-Williams finished with seven points and a game-high eight assists in just 17 minutes, 31 seconds of action in his Bucks debut. He sat out the fourth quarter. […] Carter-Williams was traded to Milwaukee (32-25) last Thursday. But this was his first game action since Feb. 2 because of a bruised right big toe.

“You saw an emerging leader,” Brown said. “You saw a tougher defender … I just feel like he was improving, moving in the right direction. […] The Milwaukee Bucks are very fortunate to get Michael Carter-Williams.”

The Philadelphia 76ers marathon rebuilding plan is humming along through its second year. Philadelphia is 12-41, and is going to be in contention to get the top pick in the 2015 Draft. A team with Jahlil Okafor, Joel Embiid, Nerlens Noel, and Michael Carter-Williams on it could probably contend in the woeful Eastern Conference, and if Philly GM Sam Hinkie gets his way, that’s exactly what will happen.

Pablo Torre of ESPN wrote a big feature on Hinkie (with a few SLAM references in fact), touching on his background and the current plight of the 76ers. But while everyone knows Philadelphia is tanking, most people don’t know how Hinkie got the GM job in Philadelphia. He got it, in part, by writing a PowerPoint manifesto detailing every move that led up to the James Harden trade for Houston.

And Hinkie, as if to underscore that divergence, walked into dinner carrying a laptop, complete with a massively detailed PowerPoint presentation that Sixers executives now recall as an “investment thesis.” Its centerpiece was a diagram that illustrated, arrow by arrow, transaction by transaction, how Houston had amassed the assets, two first-rounders and a second-rounder, along with guards Kevin Martin and Jeremy Lamb to acquire superstar guard James Harden from the Thunder in October.

According to two sources with inside knowledge of the negotiations, the Sixers had agreed to release veteran forward Andrei Kirilenko after the trade was consummated, but did not follow through on that handshake deal. Kirilenko, who played only seven games with the Nets this season, remains on the Sixers roster but has refused to join the team despite a request to do so.

“He might have an IQ of 150, but [Hinkie] doesn’t seem to realize you have to deal with these people over and over,” one league source said.

Could Hinkie have misinterpreted or misunderstood the alleged agreement with the Nets, who wanted to satisfy the desire of Kirilenko – a favorite of Russian team owner Mikhail Prokhorov – to become a free agent? […] “No,” said another source. “I think he started thinking he can just hold onto him and use him at the trade deadline in a package to get something.”

Philly has some of the most passionate, knowledgeable and brutally-honest fans in all of basketball. And for some reason, the Sixers’ braintrust thought it would be a good idea to hold a pow-wow with a few season ticket holders.

The fan is polite, but smoldering. The subject — no surprise for a team that’s gone 10-36 at home the last 13 months — is season ticket prices. […] “A couple of years ago, you guys raised the prices when Andrew Bynum came here,” he tells the team’s chief executive officer. “And that didn’t work out. We paid for tickets, and then the [Jrue Holiday] trade happened. So we paid last year to watch nothing. And then this year, we bought tickets thinking we were gonna watch two lottery picks. The point is, we’re paying the same prices other people are paying … We’re paying what everybody is paying, and we’re watching three players out of 15 that would make [other] NBA teams.”

(CEO Scott O’Neil) had started this meeting with 17 disgruntled season ticket holders — 16 men and one woman — with a little joke. Rebuilding, he says, “has been a breeze.” […] “For you, not us,” comes the response from the crowd, loud, low and dead serious.

(O’Neil) tries to point out the similarities between what the 76ers are doing and what other teams went through in rebuilding. It took the Oklahoma City Thunder four seasons to win with Kevin Durant, he says. It took the Washington Wizards four seasons to win with John Wall. It took the Toronto Raptors four seasons to win with Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan. LeBron James, he says, wasn’t coming here. The Draft is the only way to build, O’Neil says. Unfortunately, it’s the longest way. […] More than a few of the season ticket holders are sympathetic. But more than a few aren’t.

“I hate what’s going on in Philly,” the Hall of Fame coach said Wednesday. “They don’t have a basketball person in the organization. It makes me sick to my stomach.”

“No, I wouldn’t do it. We wouldn’t lose. Brett [Brown] can coach, he’s one of Pop’s guys,” Brown said, referring to San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich. “But what they are doing to that city to me is mind-boggling. That’s the greatest basketball city in the world with its fans and you want them to sit back and watch you lose.

“Can you imagine telling Allen Iverson that this is a rebuilding season so we’re going to be bad on purpose?” Brown continued. “I love [Nerlens] Noel, I love Joel [Embiid]. But you can’t put that stuff into them. Again, it boggles my mind. I understand you have to get assets to get better. You get assets by developing young players, draft picks and moving contracts. But how much teaching is going on?”

“These analytics, they don’t mean squat to me,” Brown said. “Throw it up against the wall and see if it sticks. To say that these analytics guys have the answer is crazy. It doesn’t apply to basketball. Everybody uses the data you get, but that’s what coaching is. Maybe it will work, I don’t know. But it’s a shame what those fans are going through waiting to see if it will.”

(Sixers GM) Sam Hinkie ducked into the media dining room to grab a small plate of fajitas and headed quickly toward the door.

A friend asked him if he was hiding out.

“People want to see me either gnashing my teeth or beating my chest,” he said. “I’m not gnashing my teeth.”

And by the way, as bad as the Sixers have been, streak and all, they’re still a game up on Milwaukee in the standings.

It just makes no sense to be hopelessly stuck in the middle of the pack, maybe nibbling at the No. 7 or 8 playoff spots with no real hope of ever planning a championship parade down Main St.

Which is why first-year head coach Brett Brown said he doesn’t have the inclination to feel bad for his players who haven’t won a game since Jan. 29 at Boston and could be all alone in the history books if the streak hits 27 at home on Saturday against the Pistons.

“I won’t,” Brown said. “It’s part of everybody trying to execute a way where we can rebuild our program and this is one of the unfortunate byproducts that has come our way. I think that if we had sprinkled our 15 wins in perhaps a little bit differently, where it wouldn’t have received as much attention as it seems to being receiving, well, fair enough. Everybody’s doing their job. We haven’t changed our tune or changed our message because of that.

“It goes back to what we said from Day One. We’re trying to find keepers that can move the program forward and I think we’re doing that.

“I knew what I signed up for. This is no shock. I had the opportunity to research this position for several months and I like the risk-reward. I think that if we can ever get it right in such a fantastic city, the city will come out and support us.

“I respect that the people, the fans, follow us and we want to do the right thing by our city. We want to come out and play hard and have people be proud of our efforts. This year is not about that side of the judgment. We’re judged by different measurements this year. It isn’t winning or losing. I feel like my guys come in and they bring their ‘A’ efforts.”

“I just think during the game a couple of guys had long faces including myself and I found myself a little bit down,” rookie Michael Carter-Williams said. “I just don’t want anyone in this locker room feeling bad for themselves. We’re on the court and we’re playing. I just told them that each and every game from here on out, we’ve got to go out swinging.”

Philadelphia coach Brett Brown said seeing the leadership of Carter-Williams following the win was a small win for the team. And those are something he is collecting this season.

“We’re trying to grow something and build something,” Brown said. “And the short term pain which we hope is going to produce long term gain, we think that this will fade to a distant memory in September and we are staying strong with our approach. I am proud of the guys for what they have done and that’s the lens we look at through.”

There’s an old joke about volunteering to drive an unwanted player to the airport just to get him out of town. Except when the Sixers traded Evan Turner to Indiana, it wasn’t a joke. Sam Hinkie actually hopped in the car with Turner and took him to catch his flight. That had to be an awfully strange ride.

“It was random, for sure,” Turner said. “But I can shoot the s— with anyone. It was cool, man. Hinkie is definitely a cool guy. He comes off as reserved. Sometimes you don’t really know what to take from him at first, but he talks and he’s cool and he has pretty cool stories. It was just a kind gesture. I appreciate that.”

That is not quite what you’d expect to hear from Turner, who as recently as early November said, “Hinkie is not my GM.” Time and distance have a way of smoothing things over.

The 76ers forward disclosed that he, his agent Jim Tanner and Sixers general manager Sam Hinkie have an open line of communication about trade requests coming from other teams, but Young said his camp has not opened the door to such dialogue.

While frustration is building within a team that has lost seven games in a row, and 14 of 16 overall, Young said he has not asked to be moved by the Sixers.

“I just think how it’s all funny that it’s ‘sources’ said I asked to be traded,” Young said Friday morning, after the team’s shootaround session at PCOM. “At the end of the day, I’m here 110-percent every single game to just play, stay focused and try to win basketball games.”

When asked directly about the Thursday evening report, published by LibertyBallers.com, and whether he had requested a trade, Young said without hesitation, “No.”

“My agent has talked to Sam about different situations and options and stuff like that. There’s been talks about me being traded and me having a lot of frustration, but that comes with losing basketball games,” Young said. “People have to realize that when you’re in a losing situation like we are now, people are going to get frustrated, people are going to tense up and that’s what’s been happening.”

Evan Turner told the Philadelphia Inquirer that he had no discussions with 76ers general manager Sam Hinkie about extending his contact, and he didn’t expect any extension talks, either, “because Hinkie is not my GM“:

Evan Turner was not surprised.

The 76ers swingman, who’s arguably the team’s best player, was not offered an extension past this season. The league-mandated deadline to do that was Thursday night.

“There was nothing whatsoever,” Turner said Friday morning of contract negotiations with the Sixers. “Nothing was done. That’s it.

“There was nothing to talk about. There was no discussion.”

But the Sixers’ second overall pick in the 2010 NBA draft didn’t expect any discussions.

The franchise is in the process of making major changes after hiring Sam Hinkie as its general manager in May. The Sixers traded all-star point guard Jrue Holiday to the New Orleans Pelicans on draft night for rookie center Nerlens Noel. The team is also content with starting its rebuilding process by sacrificing wins this season.

“I didn’t expect anything, because Hinkie is not my GM,” Turner said. “I didn’t come up with Hinkie or anything. He has his own plan for stuff, and that’s pretty much it.”

Sir Charles isn’t sold on the increasing importance of analytics in the NBA. When he analyzes a team on the rise such as the Houston Rockets — a team painstakingly constructed and re-constructed by GM and analytics wiz Daryl Morey — Charles Barkley points to big money paid to big stars as being the biggest difference maker. (Chuck also rails on the Philadelphia Sixers.) Per CBS Radio: “Charles On The Sixers: ‘I’m disappointed because I thought they treated those assistant coaches bad. They should have fired them at the beginning of the summer and gave them an opportunity to get another job, I do. I mean, I don’t understand why you would hold them, let them work the team out all summer, now it’s too late for them to get a job, and if I’m the [Brett] Brown guy I wouldn’t want somebody else’s assistant coaches. He may not even know those guys, and exactly what he did. He fired them right away, and I felt bad for Aaron [McKie] and Michael [Curry] because right now they’re stuck in no where because all the good jobs are gone now. And also, I had a problem with—if I’m a coach I would want to have some say in the draft, I would want to have some say in the draft. These are all Sam Hinkle’s people who they drafted this year. He traded one of the better point guards in the NBA, yeah I have a problem with the way the Sixers are running their organization right now. Listen, Howard, you know I don’t believe in that analytical crap. If LeBron James couldn’t spell cat, I want him on my team. I always tell people, give me a dumb guy that can really play. Don’t give me no smart guy. The guy, he came from Houston. When did Houston get good? When they went out a paid James Harden all that money and [Omar] Asik, and now they went out a got Dwight Howard. That’s got nothing to do with analytics, that’s got to do with paying really good players to come to town.'”

Sam Hinkie was introduced by the Philadelphia Sixers as their new general manager on Tuesday, and the new guy immediately jumped into the fray. Hinkie’s priorities will include finding a new head coach, and most importantly, figuring out what to do about Andrew Bynum’s impending free agency. Per CSN Philly: “Hinkie was asked about Bynum and whether the trade is officially over as far as the organization is concerned. The question had an obvious undertone: Is the franchise finished with Bynum? Hinkie paused for a while before answering. For five long seconds, actually. ‘I don’t think there’s anything else to be said about the trade except the way people think about it in hindsight,’ Hinkie said. ‘If your question is about Andrew in particular, which I suspect it is, which is fine, I suspect this makes me boring, I think of Andrew like the thousands of other young men walking around the world that are unrestricted free agents that have the potential to play NBA basketball. And he is one of those. And I am duty-bound to consider them, to look at them, all of them.’ You can read and re-read that quote and here’s what you’ll come away with: Not much. There are a lot of words in that response but not much information. If Hinkie knows what he wants to do about Bynum — or a head coach or Evan Turner or Thaddeus Young or Jrue Holiday or in free agency or the upcoming draft — he’s keeping it to himself, at least for now. ‘I started my career out of college in the business world in using data to help people make complicated decisions,’ Hinkie said. ‘It turns out it helps. It helps a lot.’ He’d better hope so.”

Tony DiLeo is out as Sixers general manager, and he’s being replaced by Sam Hinkie. Reports Yahoo! Sports: “Hinkie will replace Tony DiLeo with the 76ers and assume full control of basketball operations. Hinkie, who had been the Rockets’ vice president of basketball operations since 2010, met with 76ers officials a year ago about the job, but the team ultimately promoted DiLeo to the GM role. Philadelphia president Rod Thorn is retiring this spring and assuming a consultant’s role with the organization. Doug Collins resigned as coach at season’s end. Hinkie has had a major influence in reshaping the Rockets franchise, bringing an analytics background to the organization’s strong run of draft picks, trades and free-agent signings.”